Bill Clinton isn’t a perfect vegan

By CAITLIN MCDEVITT

09/19/2011 11:29 AM EDT

(Photo courtesy CBS)

Bill Clinton hasn’t gone completely vegan. The former president has drastically changed his diet since leaving the White House, but he recently told cooking show host Rachael Ray that he’s not a total stickler about it.

“Have you gone vegan?” Ray asked Clinton during his appearance on “The Rachael Ray Show" set to air on Tuesday.

“Close,” Clinton said. “I'm very careful, because strict vegans not only don't eat any meat or fish or dairy products, but they don't ever eat any processed breads and they're very careful what kind of oil goes into their food. So I, you know, I can't quite make that. My daughter, who was a vegetarian most of her life, beats up on me to eat more fish so I maybe have fish a little bit, once or twice a month, but I sort of lost the taste for all of it.”

“So, if you could cheat, if you fell off the bandwagon, what would be your guilty pleasure?” Ray inquired. “Isn't there anything that you really miss once in a while?"

Clinton explained: “You know, last year at Thanksgiving — 'cause my daughter always brings all of her friends who, like, can't go home for Thanksgiving or come from other countries where they don't celebrate it — so Chelsea will [bring] 18 or 20 people home and tell Hillary and me what we have to do to help her cook dinner. So I had, literally, I had one bite of turkey and one bite of ham. A bite. And I didn't want it. And about once a year I have one bite of steak, and I don't want it anymore."

But there is something that Clinton still craves. "...I do miss omelets," he said. "And I get a protein hunger so I, you know, I do eat fish from time to time, a little fish. I'll eat uh, you know, a couple bites of fish or a little tuna fish if I get hungry.”